| 2005 - 2006 FEI Eventing World
Cup Press Release 3
11 April 2006
US
Riders Enjoy Windfall, but Dutton Is New Leader
By Kate Green
Top American riders showed exciting form at Norwood, the sixth
FEI World Cup Qualifier in the 2005-06 series, which was held at Fork Farm Stables,
a premier competition, breeding and tourism site in North Carolina, last weekend.
As
the US squad prepares to defend its title at the forthcoming FEI World Equestrian
Games this summer, two combinations from that victorious 2002 team, Kim Severson
(Winsome Adante) (Kim and Winsome Adante are pictured at the left below.) and
Amy Tryon (Poggio), finished 2nd and 7th respectively at Norwood; while
third place for the energetic Phillip Dutton (AUS) shot him to the top
of the FEI Eventing World Cup rankings. But the winners, who led from flagfall,
were the 2003 Pan-Am Champions, Darren Chiacchia 
(USA) on the German stallion Windfall 2, who added no further penalties to their
leading dressage score of 33.8. (Darren and Windfall are pictured at the right
jumping the turtle out of the Turtle Pond - the first water.) However,
Chiacchia could not afford the smallest mistake; he was tracked all the
way by individual Olympic silver medallist Severson, who now heads to Rolex
Kentucky CCI 4* to defend her awesome record of three victories there. She was
less than a penalty behind Chiacchia throughout and also finished on a clean slate,
scoring 34.7. Chiacchia has a distinguished record with Windfall
2, who was originally produced in Germany by Ingrid Klimke. Darren represented
the USA as an individual at the 2002 WEG and this pair finished 12th at the Athens
Olympic Games in 2004. They gained some early FEI Eventing World Cup points with
13th place at Tallahassee, Florida, last month and now go into fifth place in
the rankings on 109 points ahead of Temecula winner Robyn Fisher (USA)
on 100.  Twenty-five
of the 30 cross-country starters at Norwood finished the competition, and there
was little trouble over either jumping course. There were 19 clear stadium rounds
and 22 clears over Mark Phillips's cross-country track, with eight inside
the optimum time. (Full results on:
www.forkstables.com)
The prolific
Australian rider Phillip Dutton continued his domination of the American
eventing scene; he entered Norwood four-handed, all four horses jumped a double
clear and, in fact, his sole jumping penalty all weekend was a mere 0.8 of a cross-country
time penalty. He finished third on his Sydney Olympic gold medallist House Doctor
(39.1), 14th on Badminton ride Hannigan (59.9), 15th on Connaught (60) and 20th
on Amazing Odyssey (74.1). (Phillip and House Doctor are pictured at the right
below.) Dutton's third place at Norwood earned him 40 points - he now
has a total of 170 after three placings and holds a 5-point lead over Karin Donckers
(BEL, 165). Andrew Hoy (AUS) is third on 114 and Rodney Powell (GBR) fourth on
112. This weekend the FEI Eventing World Cup action moves back across the
Pond, to Great Britain, at Burnham Market (April 14-15) and "down under"
to New Zealand at Kihikihi (April 14-15). Burnham Market's 45 entries include
the reigning FEI World Cup champion Clayton Fredericks 
(AUS) with three horses, the 2003-04 champion Linda Algotsson (SWE),
the reigning European Champions Zara Phillips (GBR) and Toytown, plus leading
riders Pippa Funnell (GBR), William Fox-Pitt (GBR), Matt
Ryan (AUS) and Andrew Nicholson (NZL). Andrew Nicholson's
brother John will also be busy this weekend; he runs Kihikihi, for
which last month he won a special award for sports administration. Current
Standings FEI World Cup:
1. Phillip Dutton (AUS) - 170
2. Karin Donckers
(BEL) - 165
3. Andrew Hoy (AUS) - 114
4. Rodney Powell (GBR) - 112
***
The
FEI Eventing World Cup is the sport's only linked series. The 2006 season consists
of 18 qualifiers held in ten countries worldwide. It will culminate in a Final
to be held in Malmö (SWE) from 21 to 24 September. The FEI Eventing World
Cup is organised at the highest level of the sport using
the format without
steeple chase. The series is designed in manner to encourage the participation
of the world's best riders and horses and thus promote such emblematic values
of Eventing, as the constant quest for harmony between physical skills and mental
balance, contact with nature,
precision, stamina, agility and insightful training.
The FEI Eventing World Cup is a showcase of a sport resolutely turned to the future.
Malina Gueorguiev
Communications Department
Fédération
Equestre Internationale
Avenue Mon-Repos 24
1005 Lausanne
Switzerland t
+41 21 310 47 54
f +41 21 310 47 60
www.horsesport.org
NEW: www.feiworldcup.org
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